Former Wing Brendan Smith waived by Rangers

A former Red Wings player has fallen from grace on the New York Rangers:

The Red Wings traded Smith to the Rangers for 2nd and 3rd round picks, with the 2nd-round pick coming to the Wings in this year’s draft. The Wings drafted Peterborough Petes 2-way center Zach Gallant with their 3rd-rounder last spring.

 

Tweets from practice: Another maintenance day for Zetterberg as Wings prepare for 10-games-in-17-nights stretch

Updated 4x at 12:27 PM: Mrazek starts Friday and Zetterberg will play against Isles:

The Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena just after 11 AM, preparing for a stretch in which they’ll play 10 games over the course of 17 afternoons and evenings (beginning with Friday’s road game against the Islanders).

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa said, “Hello” from LCA…

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji also weighed in…

#RedWings practice: Mantha-Booth (taking Zetterberg spot)-Nyquist

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#RedWings PP units: Frk-Booth (in Zetterberg’s spot)-Nyquist-Mantha (net front)-Kronwall;

Tatar-Larkin-Athanasiou-Abdelkader (net front)-Green

Fox 2’s Woody Woodriffe and Sky Kerstein also posted Tweets…

Continue reading Tweets from practice: Another maintenance day for Zetterberg as Wings prepare for 10-games-in-17-nights stretch

USA Hockey Arena to host Under-18 Five Nations Cup next week

As the Plymouth Observer’s Tim Smith notes, USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth is hosting the Under-18 Five Nations Cup  from February 13th to 17th, and the event is one of the premier tournaments for draft-eligible players:

The building (14900 Beck Road) will be jammed with National Hockey League officials and scouts who will be filling notebooks with musings about dozens of players considered the cream of the crop in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

In addition to the U.S., the round-robin tournament will include Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic.

“The ones who have been here for any international event know they’re fun, the games are great,” said Scott Monaghan, senior director of operations for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, which is based in Plymouth. “(During) the women’s world championship, the USA-Canada games just rocked.

“We hosted a Five Nations in February two years ago, that was the younger age group, U-17s. We had a fantastic final game with USA-Russia. The building was packed and it was rocking.

“This is a bigger event, because it is the last event before the U-18 World Championship, the next-to-last time the NHL teams and scouts can see all these kids. And there’s probably going to be upwards of 60 kids that are ranked in the draft from these five countries.”

Continued, and USA Hockey posted a hype video for the tournament:

 

Grand Rapids Griffins raising funds for family of passed member of front office

From WZZM 13, quoting a Grand Rapids Griffins press release:

The Griffins lost a beloved member of our family yesterday with the passing of Jake Engel.

Jake was in his second season as a corporate sales account manager after starting with the Griffins as an intern in 2015, and he also spent time with the staffs of the West Michigan Whitecaps and Muskegon Lumberjacks. His infectious smile and positive attitude were a joy to everyone around him, and he truly treated everyone as a friend.

We ask for your prayers and thoughts for his wife Rose, their unborn daughter, and his countless number of family, friends and co-workers who were blessed to have known Jake.

A friend of Jake’s set up a GoFundMe page since Monday: https://www.gofundme.com/engelstrong

Little Caesars Arena doesn’t have toxic vapors (and that’s a good thing)

The Detroit News has posted a special report regarding toxic vapors in the air near polluted sites across Michigan, and Little Caesars Arena’s construction almost made the list for a simple reason:

When you excavate tons and tons of soil to put the rink below ground level in Detroit, you’re dealing with thousands of tons of contaminated soil. Thankfully, the Detroit News’s Michael Gerstein reports that the Wings’ new rink was built in a manner that properly disposed of the polluted soil:

An environmental assessment submitted to the state in 2014 showed that several “polynuclear aromatics, metals and petroleum-related volatile organic compounds” were found at levels higher than they should be in soil samples, said Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Tiffany Brown.

The company removed the polluted soil, which is common at large construction projects in cities, said Brett McWethy, a spokesman for Olympia Entertainment Inc.

“As is common with such large-scale, urban projects, construction included the comprehensive removal of existing fill from the property,” McWethy said. “This process was fully documented in previous filings with the Department of Environmental Quality, and the successful removal and remediation was certified by thorough lab testing, which was also submitted and verified by DEQ.”

The state DEQ took the arena project off of its list after the contaminated soil was removed.

Continued

 

 

Via KK: TSN’s McKenzie discusses the Wings’ Mrazek-or-Howard decision

I was a little busy communing with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on Wednesday night…

So I knew this day would come, and I’m not upset about it. While I was out, Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner snagged quite the scoop, and I’m citing KK as the source of the following story/video:

Quoth NBC Sports:

NHL on NBC
Wings won’t bring back both Howard and Mrazek

The Red Wings may have trouble dealing either Jimmy Howard or Petr Mrazek by the deadline, but Bob McKenzie believes one them will be gone by next season.

Here’s NBCSN’s video…

And let’s all appreciate Bob for stating what we all know, but few have said aloud: after two years’ worth of spending a significant amount of money on their goaltending, the Wings are in a situation analogous to the sign-Franzen-or-Hossa situation–the first guy they can trade will be gone, regardless of the name of said goaltender.

I don’t know if Howard or Mrazek will get traded before the trade deadline, either, but every indication since the New Year has suggested that the Red Wings are going to move a goaltender before the start of the 2018-19 season.

I don’t know what exactly the Wings’ back-up plan is–literally or figuratively, as Jared Coreau may or may not be ready to back up Howard or Mrazek, but I fully expect one or both goaltenders to be gone (seriously) before next October.

 

 

Prospect round-up: Svechnikov’s return powers Griffins over Moose; Cholowski posts 2 assists for Portland; Sambrook fitting in with Sault

In the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins welcomed Evgeny Svechnikov back into their lineup, and he contributed in a big way, registering a goal and 2 assists in the Griffins’ 4-2 win over the Manitoba Moose.

Filip Hronek, Robbie Russo and Matt Lorito also scored for Grand Rapids, and Jared Coreau stopped 25 of 27 shots. The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Svechnikov’s return powers Griffins over Moose; Cholowski posts 2 assists for Portland; Sambrook fitting in with Sault

Three Things: On ‘figuring it out,’ a review of Little Caesars Arena and a Red and White podcast

Of Red Wings-related note this evening:

1. The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an off-day notebook which discusses the team’s frustrating inconsistency as the Wings’ playoff hopes fade. Kulfan focuses on the comments that the Wings made after their 3-2 loss to the Bruins:

The Red Wings didn’t give the Bruins any pushback until the third period, and by then, it was too late.

“There are no moral victories,” forward Henrik Zetterberg said. “We have to be better from the start if we want to win games. We weren’t good enough.”

 What made it further strange was that the Red Wings played so competitively on the road, winning convincingly in Carolina and losing in the final seven seconds on a controversial goaltending interference penalty in Florida.
“We were shooting pucks, competing, we were tough to play against,” forward Frans Nielsen said. “Then we come out (Tuesday) and no response at all. It’s just frustrating. It’s been like that for a long time. It’s going to be too late if we don’t figure it out. If we stand here and next week sometime and you’re asking the same question, it’s going to be too late. We have to figure it out now.”
Kulfan continues, noting that coach Blashill was disappointed in the team’s younger players;
2. Arena Digest’s Zach Spedden weighed in on the “fan experience” at Little Caesars Arena:

Continue reading Three Things: On ‘figuring it out,’ a review of Little Caesars Arena and a Red and White podcast

Krupa speaks to Datsyuk and other Olympic participants, focusing on the Michiganders skating in PyeongChang

The Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa spoke with several Olympic hockey participants as part of an article mostly discussing the Michigan natives taking part in men’s and women’s hockey in PyeongChang, and it’s worth noting that Krupa snagged a couple of quotes from Pavel Datsyuk:

The Olympics will elevate Datsyuk’s august position in Russian hockey history. Only the former Red Wings defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov and Boris Mikhailov have been two-time captains of Russian or Soviet Olympic squads.

He is also, at 39, still the top player on the Russian team.

“It is a huge honor to play for your country in the Olympics,” Datsyuk said. “I am extremely honored. Life is complicated, and we cannot always control events or do everything we want to do. I always remember Detroit. It has a special place in my heart.

“I have left Detroit,” Datsyuk said. “But I never said good-bye.”

Continued

Griffins’ Game Day Preview: caution, Moose crossing

The Grand Rapids Griffins host the Manitoba Moose at 7:00 PM EST this evening, and ahead of tonight’s match-up, the Griffins posted a thorough game preview video:

Bob Kaser and coach Todd Nelson report that both Dan Renouf and Joe Hicketts suffered injuries during last weekend’s series with Cleveland; Renouf may play this upcoming weekend, but Hicketts is out for a week to 10 days.